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Telluride 42

September 18, 2015 — Ed Scheid

The 42nd Telluride Film Festival was held during Labor Day weekend in the photogenic former mining town in the mountains of southwest Colorado. Quentin Tarantino had recently shot his upcoming “The Hateful Eight” in the area.

Telluride

As always, the film schedule is not announced in advance, adding a unique mystique to this Film Festival. The ice rink, the high school gym, and a library room are among places converted into theatres with top-of-the line projection and sound. One director told me that the sound at the new Werner Herzog Theater (over the ice rink) was the best he had ever heard.

With so many choices at nine indoor venues, along with outdoor options, it’s frustratingly impossible to see everything.

One of the most high-profile films, “Steve Jobs”, shown at a Telluride Tribute to its director Danny Boyle, divided festivalgoers. I was disappointed. Michael Fassbender, portraying Jobs as a charismatic egomaniac, leads a strong cast including Kate Winslet (as the marketing exec) and Seth Rogan as Steve Wozniak. Aaron Sorkin’s clever, fast-paced dialog doesn’t get beneath the surface. The screenplay’s structure of events leading up to three product launches, seemed like the same scene repeated three times. Sorkin, Winslet, Rogan, and Wozniak were among those representing the film at Telluride.

Michael Fassbender in “Steve Jobs”

“Carol”, directed by Todd Haynes, was screened during a Tribute to Rooney Mara. The film, about the attraction and growing relationship between two very different women (Mara and Cate Blanchett) in the 1950s, and Mara’s performance lived up to the Cannes Film Festival hype. Mara received the Best Actress award at Cannes.

The third Telluride Tribute was to British documentary maker Adam Curtis.

A unique event happened after an opening day screening of the documentary “He Named Me Malala”, directed by Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”). This film captures the warm and spirited personality of the remarkable young Nobel Peace Prize winner. At age 11, Malala Yousafzai was shot in Pakistan for her public support of schooling for girls. This documentary also tells the compelling background story of her father and his complicated feelings toward the life he encouraged for his daughter.

After the film, Malala appeared on screen for a conversation with the audience that included Telluride regular Ken Burns, Guggenheim, and her father Ziauddin Yousafzai. Malala was not at Telluride because she was taking tests in Britain for university entrance.

Malala onscreen at Telluride over director Davis Guggenheim, and her father Ziauddin Yousafzai

My two top films at Telluride:

“Son of Saul”, a powerful and shattering Hungarian film about a man responsible for cleaning the concentration camp showers. He desperately tries to have a religious burial for a young boy.

“Suffragette”, vivid historical details and a strong cast in a moving film about a young laundry worker (Carey Mulligan) who becomes involved with the suffragettes. Because of government inaction, these women are turning to violence in their quest to gain the vote. Meryl Streep plays the real-life suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst.

There were other notable film from around the world.

“Spotlight” is a gripping view of the newspaper investigation of clerical abuse in Boston. A top group of actors (including Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo) portray the investigative newsmen.

“Beasts of No Nation”, directed by Cary Fukunaga (“True Detective”), is an intense and disturbing film about child soldiers in an African civil war. Idris Elba is forceful and frightening as the rebel leader.

From France, “Marguerite”, based on a real incident has a terrific performance by Catherine Frot as a wealthy woman who sings publicly, but with no talent. Frot is amusing and also poignant.

“Rams” is a unique Icelandic film about two brothers living nearby who don’t speak. A disease caught by one brother’s sheep causes complications and contacts between them, often is deep snow. Lots of surprises, visually striking and with photogenic sheep.

A highlight for me was an outdoor panel including Meryl Streep, her “Suffragette” director Sarah Gavron, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams with their “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy (“The Station Agent”), and the director Lazlo Nemes and lead actor Geza Rohrig of “Son of Saul”.

Michael Keaton, Sarah Gavron, Meryl Streep

The conversation got lively after a discussion of contemporary issues raised by “Suffragette” when a young woman asked Meryl Streep about inequality for woman in the film business. Streep answered that she could sense an “exasperation” among most of the males in the audience at the question. Michael Keaton replied “Bullshit”, adding that his three sisters are as tough and bright as his brothers. Keaton said that he thought “things were getting dull”.

Future posts will cover the films in more detail, along with insights from the actors and directors.